Bullied Republicans Must Insist on Repeal, Resist Pitfall of Becoming Part of Phony Fix

Nov 14, 2013

RUSH: I probably am gonna be talking about all of this today in a little different way than what you’re going to hear anywhere on cable news. The problem with anybody that’s in the news business — and I don’t care where they are — is that they get caught up in the narrative that’s established for the day inside the Beltway, whoever establishes it. And they miss, in my opinion, the big picture. So now everybody is analyzing this on television within the political framework of: who does it help and who does it hurt? How can it help Obama? Did he save himself? Did he make it worse for himself? What about the Democrats? What should the Republicans do, which I’m gonna comment on in a moment.

And everybody, I think, is missing that this is already an abject failure. It can’t be fixed. It has done irreparable damage, and in order to prevent any more, it just needs to be stripped and repealed. Now, I know Obama’s not going to do that. I’m not being unrealistic. But the pressure needs to be kept on Democrats not to find a way to make this acceptable to them, if we are to actually have a way of getting rid of this. It remains unconstitutional. I mean, even the Wall Street Journal headline: “Obama Will Allow.” Obama can’t allow anything in this regard.

Obama does not make the law. His oath of office is to uphold it, and he’s in violation, folks. He is not upholding the law. He is changing it willy-nilly by waivers, any number of things, promising you can keep your plan and then not letting you and then reinstating the plan but no mention of what the premiums are gonna cost you. None of this is permissible under the Constitution. This is the kind of authoritarianism that our founders stridently feared and tried to do everything they could to prevent. And it’s just an absolute disaster.

People have been irreparably harmed by this. They’ve lost their jobs because of this. Companies have laid people off to stay in compliance with this law. People have been laid off so that the company can stay in business because of the punitive damage this law inflicts on businesses. Insurance companies have pretty much seen their epitaph written for them, years out, but they have just been told that they’re not gonna exist. So they’re trying to maximize what they can before that day comes. People have been converted from full-time jobs to part-time jobs in order to comply with the law. Some people have been given waivers.

The unions don’t have to play ball with this. Self-insured people don’t have to play ball with this. It isn’t fair, it isn’t equitable, and it isn’t solving anything. All it is doing is making a real mess that is hurting real people. In every way this law touches people, it harms them. There are no benefits. If there were, the Drive-Bys would have a parade of people on TV day and night singing this law’s praises and talking about how their lives were saved by the law or their kid’s life was saved by the law or they got a kidney because of the law. That doesn’t happen. Nobody has a success story here.

It’s an absolute mess. It can’t be fixed. And there lies the pitfall for the Republican Party. The Republican Party, I really believe, suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder from years and years of bullying and taunting. The Republican Party is Jonathan Martin. The Democrat Party and the media are Richie Incognito. The Republican Party is afraid of itself; it’s afraid of what it believes; it’s afraid to speak up; it’s afraid to oppose; it’s afraid to do anything for fear of what’s going to be said about it.

You have very few Republicans with the actual courage to stand up and oppose this totalitarianism. And look what happens to ’em. Ted Cruz, Mike Lee, thankfully they’re undaunted by it, but the Republicans, because of this post-traumatic stress disorder, which is just the way I’m characterizing it. I’m trying to be illustrative here. But they clearly are in a state of shock. There’s only one other alternative. The other alternative is they want the law to survive. That, of course, may be a reality. Some Republicans may be entrenched enough in the Washington establishment that they want the law to survive, that they want government to have this kind of role in people’s lives and in society. Who knows. But I think for many of them they’re just scared.

I think there’s an abject fear of standing up, particularly to Obama, but Democrats in general. I know there’s fear of the media. Republicans have been full-fledged intimidated. So the pitfall for them, I think, is that they want to be seen participating in the fix for Obamacare because they think that there is political gain to be made there. They are under the impression — and the way I visualize this, or better to say illustrate this, the Democrats propose something, whatever it is. And the Republicans never say no. The Republicans are obsessed, “Well, we gotta have an alternative.” They’re always on defense. They’re always reacting.

There is not proactive Republican policy anymore. They’re always reacting, and I think it comes from the assumption, I really do believe that they believe they are a genuine minority, that most people in the country, not just the media and the Democrats, don’t like them, think they’re unhip, uncool, oddball extremist weirdos, and they don’t like that, of course. But as the minority, they feel naturally defensive about things. So Obama proposes this massive health care plan, the media makes it look like everybody in America wants it, but the polling data has been clear on this. The American people, by majority after majority after majority, have never wanted it, have never liked Obamacare. There’s not been a single poll since the early days of this that show a majority of people wanting it.

The 2010 midterms were all about Obamacare. And massive numbers of America showing up to polls to vote against it and the debt that Obama was piling up, called the Tea Party. So there is this at the same that the Republicans have in this posture that they occupy that the Democrats propose something — in this case, Obama — who they think is universally loved. And they think he’s universally respected because of his race and they feel it’s not worth opposing him because of his race. So here’s this plan, it’s an absolute mess, it’s a total failure, and the worst thing the Republicans could do right now is be working in a way that would help fix this. The Republican Party should not be seen as part owners of this.

I don’t think the Republican Party should do anything to salvage this. I don’t think there’s anything in it for them to be seen as working with the Democrats to make this work, nothing electorally, just like being for amnesty and immigration reform is not going to help them. But they believe it is, do they not? Why is that? Because I think they feel defensive, shell-shocked, PTSD, what have you. What the Republicans need to be doing is taking advantage of all this chaos. It’s unconstitutional. What’s happening here is not happening according to the law. The Republicans ought to be working to scrap this. They ought to be working to repeal this. That’s what a majority of the American people want.

I continue to sit here in amazement. As I said for many months now, you have this majority of the American people opposed to it, and it seems to me that that is a large number of Americans the Republican Party could connect with on a fundamental issue and become the champions of the people who oppose this. It seems to me — from outside the Beltway, of course — as made to order for a party that wants to come back to life.

You’ve got an issue that a vast majority of people oppose, and now they really don’t like it and are angry at it. They have been personally impacted. They’ve lost their jobs, they’ve lost income, they have lost their insurance. I mean, the opportunity to be the white knight and come in and save the day is not the Landrieu bill, which I’m gonna get to in a minute. The Democrats think the white knight here is the Landrieu bill because the Landrieu bill would reinstate your policy forever, not just a year.

That’s why I think a lot of Democrats might end up rejecting what Obama proposed today and go with her bill, but I’ll tell you about her bill in detail in a minute because it dovetails with Fred Upton’s bill that’s gonna be voted on this Friday. Of course, what Obama did today might totally upend the Upton bill. But we’ll see. Tomorrow is Friday, and there’s a lot to try analyze here on the program today, plus get your calls in. Here’s the point.

The Republicans need to be pushing for total repeal, and they should settle for nothing that helps fix this. They must not; they should not. I can’t understand even why they would want to be seen as being part of the fix, when this is causing the Democrat Party and Obama’s precious relationship with the American people to unravel. The same people who just a month ago were saying, “Don’t do anything, Ted! Don’t do anything, Mike! Just stand aside. It’s gonna implode,” they’re now saying, “We could be watching the end of liberalism.”

Dr. Krauthammer on Fox said, “We could be watching the end of liberalism here.” George Will thinks we could be watching… Well, if we are, then don’t try to fix this! Don’t try to be seen as big people. If you really believe that this signifies the end of liberalism… Now, what do they mean by that? What they mean by that is that the American people, after a hundred years — well, let’s say 50.

What they mean… The people who are saying this could be the end of liberalism, what they mean is that the American people, the low-information voters, are finally going to see what a wreck big government liberalism and the Democrat Party are. If they’re saying that, that’s what they believe. The end of liberalism means that the people who vote for it, finally wake up and see what a disaster is and no longer do. If that’s what you believe, then do not make one move to try to fix this.

Don’t move in to try to be the white knight that helps save the policy that was canceled. That’s the trap. Now Obama has proposed (impression) “Well, you know what? You want to keep your plan? All right, uh, for another year!” I can see Republicans wanting in on that action. I can see Republicans wanting to be seen as helping you keep your plan. Total mistake. If they believe this is the end of liberalism, then they had better stand aside and let it implode — like they told to us a month, six weeks it would do.

That’s when they said to Cruz and Lee, “Don’t do anything! Get out of the way. Don’t try to repeal it. Don’t try to defund it. You can’t win that vote anyway. Don’t try to delay it, you can’t win. It’s gonna implode.” Okay, why are the Republicans so desirous of helping fix it? Some Republicans. It isn’t fixable, is the point. It’s already broken beyond repair. It cannot be fixed because it cannot work, as Obama has promised, and as the Democrats have promised. It just can’t — and we’re living that truth.

It’s not because I’m saying it that it doesn’t work. Is it working now? Every day there’s a new piecemeal Band-Aid fix for that problem or that problem, the website doesn’t work? Where is the evidence that there’s any foundational indication this works? There isn’t. It can’t. By design, it can’t work. This is not the role of government. I think what Obama did today, this whole thing is ultimately pointless, except from the political standpoint of maybe saving his bacon.

Well, he’s not up, but his party’s bacon. This is an affront to freedom-loving people, the damage that’s been done to people. Obama keeps talking about the Democrats. “It’s only 5%, just 15 million people.” I thought they loved everybody! I thought they’re the ones that had compassion for everybody! But now, 5%, 15 million people? “Well, that’s maybe the cost of doing business.” Really? These are real people. Real children. Real illnesses they get.

They’ve been led to believe by the Democrat Party one illness is the end of their life. Financial ruin is on the other side of one illness. I mean, what they’ve done to people, the things they have told people… They’re doing it to football. They’re creating in football, “It’s a death game.” More and more people now are not gonna let their kids play it. It’s a death game. It’s death! It’s instant death. They’re doing it all over again with practically everything in our culture.

Everything is a crisis, everything is death, everything is vile sickness, unless you let them run your life. But they can’t. Okay. At some point here, the alternative… I mean, that’s why my mind with the Republicans is stay out of this. Don’t fix it. It can’t be. Don’t have this desire of being seen as compromising and helping make it work. The American people don’t want this. Bring yourselves back to life and come up with a solution that repeals this and leads people out of this muck here, gives them their lives back. On the other side, though, is the Democrats and what they want to do and how they react to this.BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: By the way, is that not a right way to put this? Destabilizing the market. There’s a graphic up on CNN right now. “America’s Health Insurance Plans — Changing rules could destabilize the market, result in higher premiums.” It is gonna result in higher premiums. Your policy that’s been canceled being reinstated is going to be result in higher premiums. Now, I know what you’re saying. You say, “How? Why?” I’m gonna explain to you before the program ends how that happens and why.

But it is rooted in the fact that there is another law over here called Obamacare that has mandates and requirements, that the insurance companies have spent three years getting in compliance with. They are at tremendous cost. They’re going to have to charge things, to go back and reinstitute something that yesterday was illegal because the president’s waived a wand to go in and reinstate something that’s illegal, that was substandard, that they have been planning for three years to remove from their portfolio.

They’re going to have to raise the premium price in order to be able to provide that service, what they’re guaranteeing in the policy. You will note that Obama didn’t say — when he was waving his magic wand today and allowing you to keep your canceled plan, and allowing the insurance companies to reinstate it, you didn’t hear him say — “At the same price you were paying,” did you? Then we haven’t gotten to the Mary Landrieu plan. Mary Landrieu’s one of 10 Senate Democrats who was joining with Obama.

She said one night on Hardball back in 2009, “If you like the insurance that you have, you’ll be able to keep it.” Kay Hagan, Mary Landrieu, Mark Begich, 10 Democrat senators who joined with Obama as they were running, as they were supporting legislation. They were supporting Obamacare. They weren’t running. They’re up this year. Next year. They were promising everybody you get to keep your plan if you like it, and Obama did kind of share it with ’em today.

“No, I wasn’t the only one. I mean, there’s some other people who did it, too.”

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Let me ask you a question. So Obama does his presser — and by the way, I would be remiss if I didn’t point this out again. That presser was announced for 11:35. At 11:40, John Boehner is conducting a little press gathering. Now, that doesn’t happen unless there’s coordination. Boehner’s not gonna go out and upstage the president. I mean, that’s just protocol. That would not happen. So Boehner’s not gonna go do that unless it’s already known that the president’s not gonna be showing up at 11:35.

Do you agree with me on that? Boehner’s not gonna do that. Particularly this bunch of Republicans would never go out there and be accused of trying to upstage the Boy Wonder. That would never happen, and Pelosi did one before Boehner. So my point is they announced it at 11:35 but everybody knew it wasn’t gonna be 11:35. He started at 12:05, and he spent two minutes on the hurricane in the Philippines, the typhoon, giving this program plenty of time to open up.

You know, our theme is playing, and I’m introing the show, while he’s wrapping up the Philippines, and then he gets right into his health care portion, right as this program begins. (chuckling) I predicted it, too, today to a couple of people, and they said, “You sound like you got Obama in your head.” I said, “No, no, it’s the other way around. I’m living rent free in his.” He was forcing us to JIP this ’cause he knew that everybody in the media was salivating hear what he was gonna hear.

And what did he do?

Can I give you had you seen promise? Here’s what he said. If you like your old plan, you can now try to get it back, if you can. I’m gonna allow your old plan to be made available. So go for it, if you think you can get it — and you know what else he said? I’ll have to check the sound bite transcript to be sure. But even while telling you you’d get your old plan back, he still insulted the plan. “If you want your old plan back, you can get it, but it’s not gonna be what we intended for you.” Something like that.

Even though he’s gone out there trying to do a mea culpa, he can’t. It’s just not in him. He’s not capable of accountability. (interruption) End of liberalism? (interruption) Snerdley’s still in there fuming how this supposed to be the end of liberalism. Well, that’s what Dr. Krauthammer said, and then they had a parade of people on Fox who were being asked to agree with that, and everybody did. I know.

But stop and think what it means, though. I mean, if this is “the end of liberalism,” what that means is this is causing low-information people that vote for Democrats to wake up and realize it’s a mistake. This is ending the whole notion of the welfare state, that’s what the end of liberalism means. Is that what people think today? I guarantee you… My point is, “If you do believe that — if you think that this has the potential of waking people up to the horrors of liberalism and voting Democrat — then the last thing you’d want to do is help fix it.”

You would want to let it go ahead.

You’d do everything you could to help this thing gets repealed. You would do everything you could to break this further, right? If you believe, if you want this to be the end of liberalism, the last thing you should be doing is trying to offer a fix. I’m talking about Republicans now.